[Propertalk] Fwd: Sermon Resources for January 2 - Part 1

[Joseph Parrish]

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> From: Joseph Parrish <joeparrish at compuserve.com>
> Date: December 29, 2010 12:07:42 PM EST
> To: propertalk.topic at ecunet.org
> Subject: Fwd: Sermon Resources for January 2
> 

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> Sent from my iPad
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>> Sermons for Christmas 2
>> 
>> January 2, 2011	 
>> Sermons for Christmas 2
>>  
>> John 1:1-18 - "Light of the World"
>> Ephesians 1:3-14 - "A Theology of Linguistic Linguini" by Leonard Sweet
>>  
>> John 1:1-18, the sermon titled "Light of the World" 
>>  
>> One of the striking features of the Gospel of John is the way it depicts the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. The other gospels usually tell us stories about Jesus. Then, like the disciples, we are left to ask, "Who is this, that wind and sea obey him? Who is this who feeds the multitude on a couple of loaves and a few fish?" But in the Gospel of John, there's never a doubt who Jesus is, because he tells us. Usually he does so with a statement that begins with the words, "I am." Put him in a situation and he will clarify who he is and what he has come to do.
>> 
>> You can put him in the desert surrounded by people who are chronically unsatisfied, and Jesus says, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty" (John 6:35). 
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>> You can put him in the midst of people who are confused, people who ask, "Who are you, Jesus? What makes you different from all the other gurus, rabbis, and religious leaders?" And Jesus says, "I am the gate for the sheep. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture" (10:7, 9). It is an act of self-definition.
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>> You can put him at graveside, in the midst of grief-stricken people, and Jesus says, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live" (11:25). 
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>> Or put him in the midst of people who feel disconnected by life's difficulties, and Jesus says, "I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing" (15:5).
>> 
>> In the Gospel of John, in one situation after another, Jesus defines himself and says, "This is who I am...." In the eighth chapter, Jesus says, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life" (8:12). His words echo the opening words of the Fourth Gospel, where the writer defines the person and work of Jesus in terms of light. "What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people ... The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world" (1:3-4, 9). 
>> 
>> Jesus says, "I am the light of the world." This is the kind of thing we might expect to hear in these days after Christmas. Not long ago we gathered on Christmas Eve to hear the prophet Isaiah say, "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light." We don't know if old Isaiah had any idea who or what he was talking about, yet we celebrate Christmas as a festival of light. We string up twinkle lights on fir trees. We illumine our houses. We burn candles in the windows and plug in GE bulbs on the shrubbery. We burn up the kilowatts because Jesus Christ is born. In the bleak midwinter, why not shine a little light?...
>>  
>> 1. The Light of the World.
>> 2. The Light Comes into Darkness.
>>  
>> The rest of this sermon following the outline above can be obtained by joining www.eSermons.com.
>>  
>>  
>> _______________________
>>  
>> Epsesians 1:3-14, sermon titled "A Theology of Linguistic Linguini" by Leonard Sweet 
>>  
>> Let's begin with a little survey.
>>  
>> How many of you have you have taken down your Christmas tree and packed up all the festive decorations until next December?  How many of you are still living with your Christmas bling-bling?  I thought so. There are not too many of us who hold on and hold out until the passing of Epiphany to take down our Christmas décor.
>>  
>> This year Epiphany, January 6, falls on a nondescript day of the week. We are back at work. Kids are back at school. Post-Christmas and New Year's sales are over. It's too early to plan for "President's Day" or Valentine's Day.
>>  
>> We find Epiphany, the day the Magi finally reached Mary and Joseph and offered their extravagant gifts to the baby Jesus, slightly off-putting.
>>  
>> Maybe it is because we've jumped the gun and have already opened up . . . used up . . . eaten up . . . even broken up . . . all our presents by now. Maybe we have a sneaking sense that "we should have waited." So we crate our crèches even before the wise men get a chance to show up for the celebration.
>>  
>> But maybe there is something else about epiphany that makes us uncomfortable.
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>> When the Magi finally reached their destination, what was the first thing they did?
>>  
>> They "knelt down and paid him homage" (Matthew 2:11). Specifically Christian worship begins here, and on the Sunday closest to Epiphany.
>>  
>> These were rich, respected, wise men. They were on speaking terms with the king. As astrologers they were privy to the secrets of the stars, and the stars held the secrets to the universe. They were not even Jews. In this East meets West moment, the Eastern cults and traditions of the magi were far removed from the messianic traditions of the Hebrews.
>>  
>> Yet when they came into the presence of this little star-born baby, what did they do? They threw themselves down on the ground without hesitation but with abject humility. Think of that crèche you put away. Wasn't at least one of the wise men kneeling? Here was one to be offered praise and glory. Here was one whose greatness was to be honored. Here was one born to be "adored." "Oh, come, let us adore him."
>>  
>> What does "adore" mean? In its Latin roots it means to reverence and honor. But it is a much stronger word than "honor," or the Latin venerari. It actually is equivalent to the Greek proskunein, which means to "prostrate." So to say "I adore Chipotle burritos" or "I adore my little brother" is to say something almost sacrilegious. For to "adore" something is to go as far as we can go in worship and praise. You can glorify God, and praise God, and bless God. But when you "adore" God, you go as far as you can go. You take the ultimate step...
>>  
>> The rest of Leonard Sweet's sermon can be obtained by joining www.Sermons.com
>>  
>> __________________
>>  
>> A Reminder Where Our Hearts Belong
>>  
>> Since Thanksgiving, the shopping malls have been telling us that "It's the most wonderful time of the year."  And it is - for them. For many others, however, it is a mixed bag.  Christmas isn't what it was when I was a child and never will be again.  I'm an adult; it's different; it just is.  In this economically difficult time, many have lost jobs or seen their investments and securities dwindle--unsure of what the future holds.
>>  
>> Perhaps we have not been able to do what we might have liked to have done for Christmas.  Many husbands and wives, sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, are serving in harm's way and are not able to be with family this Christmas.  There are those living with illness or with grief at the death of a loved one--sorrow intensified during this season of memories of Christmases past and high, perhaps unrealistic, expectations of what Christmas is supposed to be.  There might be those who are just as happy to have the celebration done with and over.
>> 
>> In this season of gift giving and all that pulls and tugs on our hearts, may we remember the good gifts that the Creator has given us, the sun and the moon, this good earth with all its blessings of sky and water, plants and animals, this incredible gift of life, of flesh and blood, of breath and memory, this day, this moment, and all those who people our lives, both joy and sorrow, and all that it means for us to be fully human, fully alive.  And, above all, may we remember the gift of the Word made flesh sent to save us, to heal us, to bring us joy, to bring us back to God's own self.
>> 
>> Wm. McCord "Mac" Thigpen, Christmastide: A Reminder Where Our Hearts Belong 
>> ___________________________
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>> Closing the Chasm
>>  
>> Many years ago, I was walking in the farm that has belonged to my father's family in Kentucky for many generations, and I happened to looked down and I saw this giant anthill. There must have been thousands of these little creatures scurrying back and forth. It was a world unto itself. And as I looked down, I thought to myself, given the capacity of an ant, they have no way of understanding something as big and complex as a human being. If they were aware of me at all, I must have loomed over them as some kind of ominous presence. Then it dawned on me that if I had the power to somehow become an ant and yet take into that new condition as much of the reality of a human being as would be possible - in other words, if I could cross this chasm of otherness from my side - then it would be possible for ants to understand the human in ways that they could never have known before.
>> 
>> As I walked away, I began to realize that the chasm between an ant and a human being, vast as it is, is nothing to compare between the chasm between a human being and this mysterious, divine reality that gives life. And I realized that we are as incapable of understanding God on our own as an ant would be incapable of understanding us.
>>  
>> John Claypool, God Became What We Are
>> _____________________________
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